[ QUEEN OF CARDS ]

Makiki sports card store
hits a home run

A personal approach to card selling draws
loyal customers to Paula Nakata's shop

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By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com

As the owner of a successful sports card shop, Paula Nakata's business revolves around rare finds.

But Nakata herself is a rare find in today's economy -- a business person looking to scale back not because she has to, but because she can.

"This business has far exceeded any of my wildest dreams," Nakata said. "I guess I have a storybook life except that I'm a workaholic, so I'm trying to fill out the rest of the story."

Nakata opened Paula's Sports Cards, Etc. in the Makiki Shopping Village in 1993 and she can count her total days off on one hand -- one for her wedding in 1993 and four on a vacation to Los Angeles to see Barbra Streisand's farewell performance in 2000.

Along the way, Paula's enjoyed perennial success as dozens of other card shops blossomed and withered.

"It's been the nicest thing to work every day because life is steady," Nakata said. "I think work is good, maybe because I'm in something a lot of people would love to do."

So it's with a bit of hesitancy that she's considering a bold step in her career, closing on Sundays to spend more time with her husband, Keith Suemori.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Paula Nakata, owner of Paula's Sports Cards, Etc. and a self-proclaimed workaholic, talked about the business that she loves. "This business has far exceeded any of my wildest dreams," she said.

"You think of a marriage as give and take and for the most part my husband has given and I've taken," she said. "So it's time to give back to him.

"I think that would be my proving my total devotion and love to him, because I totally enjoy doing this."

Nakata 39, started collecting sports cards while playing "knock down" and "match-no match" with the boys at Maryknoll School. She worked her way through the University of Hawaii in the ABC chain of convenience stores and was on her way to a management position when two motor scooter crashes directed her toward her dream job.

The first accident resulted in major plastic surgery on the right side of her face and the other required the insertion of a pin in her left leg. She took two months off to recuperate and as the bills stacked up she turned to her card collection for some extra cash.

"I thought maybe I'd get 50 bucks for what I paid 40 bucks for, and that would be a good 20 percent return," she recalled. "It ended up that the cards that I paid $40 for were worth $700.

"As kind of a business-minded person I thought, 'Wow, if I had taken care of them what would they be worth?' So as soon as I got back on my feet I spent one whole paycheck on cards."

She got her first retail experience in 1988 at card shows at the Moiliili Community Center and opened her first shop on an obscure corner of Kinau Street in 1990.

Three years later she moved to her current spot on Wilder Avenue. She and Suemori were married on Aug. 15, 1993. They were painting the walls of her new store the next morning.

While collectors can find single cards at Paula's, the shop specializes in selling cards by the pack. In fact, two of her most valuable cards were pulled in her store. One is an autographed Michael Jordan card, a one of a kind, valued at $7,000. The other is an autographed Vince Carter card worth about $4,000.

Nakata's personal approach to card selling quickly earned her a loyal flock of customers that has grown steadily despite her aversion to advertising. Nakata won't disclose revenue figures, but did say sales are up about 30 percent over a year ago, which was a record year for the store.

"The business, except for a couple years, has grown every year with very little effort on my part," Nakata said.

"It's nice to be busy when you think of yourself as a business and you have to earn money," she added. "But it's actually become maybe a little too busy where talking story is hard now, and to me that's the highlight of doing this, getting to know the people you basically work for."

Customers at Paula's are free to break open the packs they purchase, peruse the cards displayed in her glass cases or hanging on the wall or play video games in her mini-arcade. She said the regulars are often waiting for her when she arrives at work.

"I always call it in-house arrest, because once I walk in that door there is absolutely no peace," she said. "You can't even use the bathroom in peace."

With several schools nearby, Nakata has enjoyed watching many of her patrons grow up. She said one regular customer first started showing up as an elementary school student. He has since gotten married, bought a home and recently welcomed his first child.

"I think that's the most rewarding thing about my business," she said. "That I've had relationships and some of my best friends have come from my owning this store. How do you put a value on that?"

Paula's Sports Cards, Etc. Address: 1231 Wilder Ave., room 206 Phone: 808-533-4886 Opened: August 1993 Employees: One Hours: 11:15 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Speciality: Sports cards, role playing game cards and card supplies